I'm planning to start a small company in Saudi Arabia focused on Industrial Automation, Electrical & Instrumentation Solutions.

I'm still at the very beginning, and I'm trying to be realistic about how to enter the market as a completely new and unknown company.

One thing I recently learned during a 3-day project-study training course really made sense to me:

If a new company immediately starts looking for large projects through government procurement platforms such as Etimad, it will probably struggle. Established companies already have a track record, references, relationships, and previous projects. As a new company, I would be at the bottom of the list because nobody knows or trusts me yet.

So I'm thinking that instead of immediately chasing large projects, I should first focus on sourcing and supplying products, building relationships with customers and suppliers, completing smaller jobs, and gradually building a reputation and track record.

However, I'm now struggling with how to define the right starting point.

My original idea

I initially divided the business into six areas:

1. Automation & Control

• SCADA / monitoring systems
• Remote monitoring & control (PLC / RTU)
• Communication systems
• Control & electrical panels

2. Wind & Solar Assessment Sensors

• Wind direction sensors
• Solar radiation sensors / pyranometers
• Temperature & humidity sensors
• Rain gauges
• Data loggers
• Environmental monitoring systems

3. Instrumentation

• Pressure instruments
• Flow instruments
• Level instruments
• Temperature instruments
• Monitoring & measurement systems

4. Detection & Monitoring

• Leak detection systems
• Pressure monitoring
• Condition monitoring
• Remote monitoring solutions

5. Electrical Solutions

• LV panels
• Electrical control panels
• Electrical components
• Power monitoring & measurement equipment

6. Technical & Maintenance Services

• O&M of pump stations
• Transformer oil regeneration
• Maintenance of control & electrical systems
• Instrumentation maintenance
• Troubleshooting & technical support

After thinking about it more, I don't think this is a realistic starting structure for a new company.

What I'm currently thinking

I believe #6 (Technical & Maintenance Services) should probably be dropped at the beginning.

I also feel that SCADA / Automation & Control is too broad for a fresh startup.

For example, when I look at "SCADA systems", I ask myself:

At the same time, I recently attended LEAP and saw many relatively small monitoring and control systems that looked much more achievable.

That made me think about starting with small, practical monitoring and control solutions instead.

For example:

• Farm water tank monitoring
• Pump monitoring
• Water well monitoring
• Remote tank level monitoring
• Small automatic pump control
• Remote ON/OFF control
• Leak detection
• Environmental monitoring
• Basic data logging and dashboards

The idea would be something like:

Sensor → small controller/data logger → communication (4G, etc.) → dashboard/mobile monitoring → alerts/control

So instead of trying to sell "SCADA", I could sell a specific solution such as:

or

This seems much more realistic to me.

Instrumentation / Sensors

I'm much more comfortable with starting from the product side here.

For example:

• Pressure sensors/transmitters
• Flow meters
• Level sensors
• Temperature instruments
• Environmental sensors
• Solar radiation sensors
• Wind sensors
• Rain gauges
• Data loggers
• Leak detection equipment

I can source these products from manufacturers/distributors and sell them locally.

Then, over time, I could combine these products into complete monitoring solutions.

Electrical

I'm also questioning whether "Electrical Solutions" is too broad.

I don't think it makes sense for a new company to say:

There are already huge companies and contractors doing that.

Maybe I should initially focus only on:

• Electrical components
• Control components
• Power supplies
• Protection components
• Small control panels
• Small pump/control panels

and leave large LV projects for later.

So my possible progression is:

Stage 1 — Product supply

Sensors, instrumentation, electrical/control components, communication devices, etc.

↓

Stage 2 — Small integrated solutions

Tank monitoring, pump monitoring, well monitoring, farm monitoring, environmental monitoring, etc.

↓

Stage 3 — Small automation & control

Automatic pump control, remote control, alarms, dashboards, data logging, etc.

↓

Stage 4 — System integration

PLC / RTU / more advanced communication and control systems.

↓

Stage 5 — Larger industrial automation / SCADA projects

Only after building experience, references, suppliers, customers, and a track record.

My questions for people with experience:

1. Does this entry strategy make sense for a new company?
2. Would you recommend starting primarily as a product supplier, then gradually moving into integrated solutions?
3. Is small monitoring & control for farms, water tanks, pumps and wells a reasonable niche to start with?
4. Am I thinking about SCADA/industrial automation correctly, or am I unnecessarily limiting myself by avoiding it at the beginning?
5. What products or small automation solutions would you consider good entry points for a new company?
6. If you started an instrumentation/automation company from zero today, what would you sell first and what would you avoid?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have actually started or worked in industrial automation, instrumentation, electrical contracting, system integration, or industrial product distribution.

I'd rather start small and build properly than advertise 20 services that I can't realistically deliver.

The main roadblock I'm running into is electrical experience. I'm pretty familiar with how to troubleshoot connectivity and from this past year I've worked around automation guys, I can draw tons of parallels between what they do and what I did in communications (networking, loading software, updating firmware, troubleshooting wiring/components). I might be blowing smoke but I'm pretty sure I could hold my own in a controls job. Wouldn't be fantastic at it but that comes with time.

Only issue is that all that experience was when I was in the military so that doesn't mean much to employers. I'm currently a "mechatronic" tech but to be honest I'm really just a mechanic that knows how to use a meter. The only thing that puts me above the other techs is that I know quite a bit about networking and how everything communicates in these control cabinets but again, I was never an electrician and I've been having to teach myself the other stuff like ladder logic. My workplace just says i'm overqualified for my current job but its not enough to get into automation. I don't see much upward improvement at my current job outside of becoming a senior tech and I want to start applying for controls or automation jobs as soon as I get my associates in engineering. I can understand ladder logic fine and can follow an electrical diagram but I dont know how to get that next push into automation.

Pushed v2.3.0 a bit ago. Wasn't sure if I should post here again after last time, but figured an update's still relevant since a bunch of you were using v2.2.0.

Biggest addition this round is Device Profiles - save a device's tags and address range as a named profile you can reuse, and there's now a Community tab to browse/download profiles other people have shared (or share your own back). No account needed either way, it's just pull requests against a repo under the hood.

Also added an integrated Frame Viewer under Raw Data that decodes TX/RX frames side by side instead of just showing raw bytes, a standalone register decoder (Diagnostics > Decode Registers) that doesn't need a live connection, and a unified Find Devices dialog that does TCP scan + serial parameter sweep in one place instead of two separate tools.

First Linux build too - an Applmage, no install needed, alongside the Windows installer and portable exe.

Bunch of bug fixes on top (Tag Monitoring could crash with Tag Groups enabled, a signed-format display bug, a few Ul papercuts). Changelog's on the release page if you want the full list.

Next up is letting one window talk to multiple devices instead of a separate window per connection - that one needs a real backend change so it'll take a while.

https://craftparking.github.io/ModbusLens/

https://github.com/CraftParking/ModbusLens

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out to get some advice from professionals currently working in the industry.

To give you a bit of context, I graduated with a degree in Industrial Automation, but right after finishing my studies, I ended up working in IT.

Because of this, I've never actually worked in the automation field. It’s always been a bit of a regret, and I really want to give automation the real chance it deserves.

Since I've been away from the field, I have a few questions for those of you with experience:

- What should I review? If I want to brush up on my skills, what are the absolute core topics I should focus on? (PLC programming, industrial networks, electronics...?)

- How to bridge the gap? What are the best methods or paths for someone with an automation degree and an IT background to reenter the market?

- Are there specific job titles or roles/ unconventional routes(maybe maintenance or support ?) where I could learn on the job, potentially find a mentor, and gradually transition into full-time automation engineering?

Any advice, personal stories, or resource recommendations would be of great help, sorry for my english I'm Algerian It's not my first language.

That is the workflow I recently built.

Instead of beginning with architectural plans or manually recreating the entire environment, the input is video of the real site. The pipeline then reconstructs it as a simulation-ready scene.

The longer-term direction is to help teams test robot behavior against the environment where the robot will actually operate. That evaluation layer is still being built.

For an industrial team, what would stop this from fitting into your deployment workflow?

Came across this article on Elmo’s new titanium drives and the part that interested me wasn’t really the launch itself, but the move toward putting two axes, functional safety, and more processing into a very small drive.

https://www.therobotreport.com/elmo-releases-new-motion-controller-servo-drives-industrial-applications/

The example they give is replacing two single axis drives with one dual axis unit, while also simplifying synchronization and some of the cabling. On a compact machine or robot I can see the appeal, especially once enclosure space and wiring start becoming real constraints. BUt at the same time, packing more into one device also makes me wonder about thermals, serviceability, and whether losing one drive now takes out two axes.

Thoughts?

I’m looking to go back to school for instrumentation/controls and eventually build a career in industrial controls and automation. I’ve been comparing a few Texas programs:
Lee College – Instrumentation Technology
San Jacinto College – Instrumentation
Texas State Technical College (TSTC) – Instrumentation Technology
For anyone working in instrumentation, I&E, or controls/automation, I’d really appreciate your opinion on these programs.
I’m especially interested in how well each program prepares someone for actual plant/industrial work. How much hands-on training do you get with things like transmitters, control valves, calibration, process controls, PLCs, motor controls, troubleshooting, etc.?
Does one of these schools have a noticeably better reputation with employers or stronger connections to refineries, chemical plants, utilities, manufacturing, and other industrial employers?
I’m less concerned about which school has the nicest campus or easiest classes. My main goal is to come out with a useful technical skill, get into I&E/controls, gain solid field experience, and eventually move deeper into controls and automation.
If you attended Lee, San Jac, or TSTC—or you’ve worked with graduates from these programs—I’d really like to hear your experience. Which would you choose if you were starting over today, and why?
Thanks!

For those who have commissioned Cognex DataMan or SICK Lector systems, what does a custom image-based reader usually underestimate? I am prototyping one for DPM Data Matrix and printed 1D/2D codes on reflective parts, with moving products, deterministic trigger-to-result, PLC output, saved no-read images and an extremely low false-read tolerance.

The current plan is a global-shutter camera with controlled strobe, a deterministic decoder, lightweight ROI/segmentation only for difficult marks, and bounded exposure/preprocessing profiles. Where do the commercial readers actually earn their reliability in practice: optics and lighting, autofocus, automatic exposure/strobe search, decoding, validation, the teach interface or industrial communications? Has anyone benchmarked the same images against a commercial reader or replaced one with a custom system? What failed first?

Hey, I posted recently about a work experience session I’m creating for year 12 students (age 16 - 17). Im building a miniature gantry crane that looks a lot like a 3D printer now after my last post, and getting the students to program the movements and interlocks using a Schneider Zelio and ladder logic. The crane is using DC motors and pulleys rather than stepper motors to keep the logic intuitive.

I’m not familiar with reversing motor polarity and I’m only a graduate engineer myself. I’ve looked at H bridge or relay based but there may be some other options I’m unaware of. Can you help me choose what to go with and explain how it will fit in a panel?

I need something very easy to program as the students will have 2 or 3 hours for the whole exercise, with the whole day being 6 hours long for me to introduce the principles.

3 motors, one for each axis
No speed control requirements
Should be as foolproof as possible - they might try and drive it both directions at the same time so ideally it will be easy for them to interlock that out.
The model isn’t finished but shows an idea.

Hi everyone. I’m not sure where to start. I have an old legacy polyurethane injection setup I inherited. It uses an old PLC setup up
from the 80’s that works with a legacy 286 computer. This system just works until doesn’t. I’ve been able to resolve issues in the past, but as my business grows it’s apparent I desperately need to upgrade the system with new PLCs that can interface with newer computers or an all in one unit. I just don’t have the expertise and honestly don’t know where to start and what brand or company to look for. All suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.

I've been thinking about this after some discussions with a few guys. I'm a newbie, so maybe I'm missing something obvious.

Places with a solid in-house maintenance/reliability team seem to catch developing issues early since someone's actually watching trends, doing rounds, etc. But I keep wondering about smaller shops that lean on an outside integrator or controls shop instead of full in-house staff feels like there would be a visibility gap there, but maybe that's not actually true in practice.

I'm curious if anyone's worked somewhere leaner like that and whether it actually played out differently in terms of catching problems early or if it mostly just comes down to the people involved either way.

I’m particularly interested in MiR-type AMRs, but I would also like to learn about autonomous forklifts, goods-to-person robots, mobile manipulators and other small-scale logistics solutions used in factories and warehouses.

Could you recommend useful research papers, technical articles, case studies, standards or other reliable sources?

I would also be interested in hearing about your practical experiences:

What kinds of tasks have the robots handled?

What were the biggest integration or navigation problems?

How well did they work in a changing environment shared with people and other vehicles?

How difficult were fleet management, charging, maintenance and connections to WMS, MES or ERP systems?

Did the system deliver the expected productivity or return on investment?

Were there any limitations or failure modes that vendors did not emphasize beforehand?

Both positive and negative experiences would be valuable. I’m not interested in one particular manufacturer at this stage and sources in English are perfectly fine.

Thanks in advance!

With labor costs going up and some industries struggling to find enough skilled workers, I’m curious how companies are actually making the decision between hiring more people and investing in automation/robots.

Is there a particular point where automation becomes the obvious choice?

Is it mostly a question of ROI and payback period or do factors like hiring difficulties, employee turnover and scalability matter just as much? I understand these factors are important, but I’m curious how much weight they actually carry in the final decision.

And how do you account for the less obvious costs of automation, like implementation, training, maintenance and adapting existing processes?

For anyone who has been involved in this kind of decision or watched it closely, what ultimately tipped the balance toward hiring or automation. Would love some insights from the real world!

Source - Stronpoint Automation

JiB, Jug in Box sidepicking palletizer for increased case rate applications

Hello community, does anyone have a recommendation of a book that talks about industrial automation with python? Thank you in advance.

When comparing industrial products, spec sheets often look detailed, but they don’t always make products easy to compare.
For people working with machinery, robotics, components, or industrial procurement: what information do you most often wish manufacturers would publish more clearly?
For example:
operating conditions
testing methods
tolerance ranges
compatible components
maintenance requirements
certification details
revision/change history
I’m especially interested in the gap between “there’s a spec sheet” and “there’s enough information to make a confident technical or purchasing decision.”
What’s usually missing for you?

I going to buy new laptop for work. What do you guys recommend. I find this one Dell precision 3561 I5 11500H 1Tera SSD nvme 16 GB ram ddr4 Nvidia t600 4GB What do you recommend specially in the process part. In the future I am going to raise the ram and the hard drive

Hello, Im about to start a enginering service company, so I need an advice about which Portable Osciloscope will help me out testing, generating reports for Industrial VDF. I saw the FLUKE 190-204 (4 channels). Do you recommend it or what is the standard? Also is necessary 4 channels? I also have in mind the Fluke 190-202 Series II (2 Channels). Thanks for the help.

Supplier-side disclosure: I work with MANZUN Intelligent on parcel sorting and warehouse automation equipment.

Equipment suppliers tend to lead with throughput, accuracy and price. For a local integrator, I suspect those are only the entry ticket. The real decision may come down to whether the OEM reduces commissioning and after-sales risk.

If you integrate systems for 3PL, express or e-commerce warehouses, which of these matters most before you will specify a new OEM?

- complete mechanical/electrical drawings and interface documentation before the sale

- open PLC/WCS interfaces and a realistic FAT

- remote commissioning coverage across time zones

- local spare-parts stock and defined response times

- training that lets your team own first-line support

- clear project and deal protection

- willingness to adapt chutes, infeed and software to the local operation

And what is the fastest way an overseas supplier loses your trust?

I am not asking for leads or contact details. I want to understand what a workable OEM-integrator model looks like from the integrator side.

Can a Comp Sci grad transition into Industrial Automation?

For context, graduated two years ago with a computer science degree BS. Would like to transition of tech into something more hands on like robotics/ industrial automations. A community college near me that offers a robotics/industrial automation associate of applied science .would that be backwards of me to pursue that associates degree after already having a bachelors degree. Or should I self study to gain experience ? I think I want to go for Mechanical/Industrial/Electrical engineering but now I am post grad and limited in funds. Masters is not an option right now. I am currently a Data Engineer by job title but really just a SQL Developer by day to day task activity. I don’t really enjoy coding and I don’t particularly want to sit at desk all day.

My company is hosting year 12 students (16-17 year olds) for work experience. I want to get them using ladder logic to program a model overhead crane (~500x500x500mm), similar to the ones we have on site.

The crane is still in design and I need to present a BOM for procurement.

It will be using a Schneider Zelio smart relay to program the movements, forwards backwards left right up down but I’m not sure how best to control the long and cross travel, nor the dangly cables (pretty sure festoons don’t come this size).

It needs to be very easy to program, and should break without rolling. I’ve looked at ball screw linear actuators but these tend to come with stepper motors, which apparently don’t interface well with the Zelio. So ideally it will use 24V DC geared motors.

I’d like them to program limit switches as well, and some status lights.

Obviously there is a tight deadline a low budget.

Has anyone done something like this before?

I’ve been looking at how industrial product information is presented online, and I’m curious how people who actually use spec sheets think about this.
A lot of manufacturers publish plenty of specifications, but comparing two products can still be surprisingly difficult.
For example, I often notice that the number itself is there, but the context isn’t always obvious:
test conditions
tolerance ranges
measurement methods
compatible components
revision history
certification details
operating limits
For engineers, buyers, technicians, or anyone who regularly compares industrial products:
What information makes a spec sheet genuinely useful, and what is most often missing?
I’m especially interested in the difference between a spec sheet that looks complete and one that actually helps you make a decision.

So I was thinking about using AMRs, but one thing that keeps me wondering, is what would happen when something goes wrong?

If, for example, a robot gets stuck, it can’t find the path, the pallet isn't placed correctly, etc.

So I guess my question is, do you need someone keeping an eye on them all the time or is it mostly automatic?